Chocolate Raspberry Cake

For a long time, I was really afraid of cakes, even when I made them at the bakery.  When I was probably 5 or 6 years old, I slipped carrying my Dad?s birthday cake.  I was so excited to bring his cake in to him, and dropping it upset me so much that it?s haunted me ever since.  I remember crying uncontrollably while my Dad tried to calm me down, telling me that it was just a cake and that he cared a lot more about me than any dessert.  Of course, my Dad doesn?t even remember the incident now, and I finally decided that it was long overdue to just get over the whole thing already!

I took a basic decorating class last month to get comfortable with handling cakes again.  While I really enjoyed it, I definitely found myself looking forward to finishing the class so that I could start working with my own frostings and design style.  Now that I’ve had a chance to do that, I’ve become a little obsessed with thinking about different flavor combinations and how I would decorate each one.  I even find myself getting sucked into cake shows that I would have gladly skipped over before.

There’s something so satisfying about making a cake.  I couldn’t stop beaming after finishing this one, and I could stared at it for hours if given the chance.  It didn?t hurt that I really love chocolate and raspberries, and of course Valentine’s Day is the perfect time for a really decadent chocolate cake.  This is filled with an all-natural raspberry buttercream and topped with vanilla buttercream swirls and a raspberry garnish.

To be honest, I usually find chocolate cake with chocolate frosting a little bit much, but because of the slight tartness of the filling and the vanilla buttercream swirls, it really worked here.  You’ve probably heard me mention that I’m not a huge fan of food coloring, and I love that the color of this raspberry frosting comes from real raspberries.  I’m really enjoying being able to make cakes “my way” now that I’m out of class, and I can’t wait to make more of them!  Anybody have a birthday coming up?